EA tech boss on how Xbox One takes Battlefield 4, FIFA to "a whole new level"

PublishedJune 1, 2013

Like a massive bucket of blue-sky thinking and narcotic daydreams, EA’s chief technology officer Rajat Taneja has just upended himself all over the next generation discussion, care of a post on LinkedIn.

The following account of how EA intends to make use of next gen console architecture and connectivity is hyperbolic in the extreme, but there are some fun gameplay possibilities tucked away in the detail.

“These architectures are a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market and their unique design of the hardware,” Taneja gushed. “The underlying operating system and the live service layer create one of the most compelling platforms to reimagine game mechanics.

“Our benchmarks on just the video and audio performance are 8-10 times superior to the current gen. The compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines.”

Both DICE’s Frostbite 3 Engine and the EA Sports Ignite Engine introduced at the Xbox One reveal “have been tailored to take full advantage of the new capabilities of the Xbox One and PS4,” says Taneja. “For a first-person shooter game like Battlefield 4, this means even more detailed gameplay, behavior and awareness for characters and more detailed appearance down to the lighting and clothing on the soldiers.

“EA SPORTS gamers will experience true motion with pivoting, side stepping, step based locomotion and bio mechanics that account for mass, center of gravity and momentum; human intelligence that simulate instincts, awareness and unpredictability that’s more like real-life sport.”

Apparently, next gen equals better crowds. “Videogames are about to become a medium like you’ve never seen. For example, in the real world, when an athlete takes the field or court during a playoff game and the crowd is going wild, they feed off of that energy and it impacts how they perform.

“Take the Warriors’ “Roaracle Arena,” for example – the players have said that the crowd energy directly impacted how they performed in the playoffs. CenturyLink Field where the Seattle Seahawks play is often referred to as the 12th man for the same reason.

“With our next gen game engines, the crowd energy, weather and player behavior will all impact how your gameplay unfolds.The technology powering these games takes realism to a whole new level.”

Taneja also believes the new console’s connected functions will be of immeasurable benefit to sports games. “These next-gen platforms create dynamic, living worlds. Your game could change overnight depending on actions by other gamers around the globe. Your player stats and information can be updated in real time with real-world player stats and injury reports.”

You mean if Suarez bites somebody’s elbow in real life, I have to deal with it in-game, Taneja? Does the process work in reverse? Can I have Ronaldo stamp on the back of his knee and see that played out in next weekend’s match?

In closing, he notes that Xbox Live’s new cloud computing might should be of benefit to cross-platform play.” The Xbox Live network required 500 servers when it launched a decade ago and as was mentioned yesterday, they are now provisioning 300,000 servers to handle Xbox data in the cloud. That growth is staggering, but it also means we’ll really start to see more examples of true cross-device play.”

What do you think of it all? Here’s a comprehensive guide to Xbox One based on exclusive pre-reveal access. You can expect FIFA 14 and Battlefield 4 to release on Xbox One this year, plus new Madden NHL, NBA Live and UFC games at unspecified dates.

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